sdc100

This laptop has great specs but it does have one glaring and inexplicable omission: Bluetooth. You'll need a dongle for that. On the other hand, it does have VGA, which is very rare for a laptop that has HDMI.

gak0090

Saintless wrote:I have the P875-S7310 (a very close model), that I purchased last March, on clearance, when it was being replaced by a new model. I love this laptop, though you have to like larger laptops. I'm a software developer, so I have to have a larger screen, so it's what I wanted.

I wish it had a SSD hard drive, and I've had a few issues, but nothing that makes me regret it. First, and I'm certain it's a Win8 issue that I haven't looked hard enough to find a fix, the screen brightens and darkens, if the battery is below 100%, while it's charging. Second, which I wonder if it's related, the battery won't charge enough to increase the charge, if it's being used while charging, IF it's below about 20 - 30%. I rarely use it without being plugged in, though. Finally, if I'm watching videos, even starting from a full battery, the power drains faster than the cord charges it, so if I fall asleep, or forget to take it out of full screen, it eventually powers off due to low battery. So, my kids can't play games nonstop for more than 2 - 3 hours.

I installed Win8.1 preview, hoping that it will fix those issues, but I haven't tested that out. It was a display model, so perhaps the battery has issues, though it gives me plenty of life. Or, maybe they gave me the wrong cord. I have extended warranty, so I just need to contact them, if the reinstall didn't fix the charging/power drain issues.

That said, I really have liked it, even when using Visual Studio or other intensive apps. The screen is beautiful, I love the keyboard layout, and that it has plenty of USB. Pretty much everything is fast, as you'd expect, despite not having an SSD hard drive. And it survived a drop upside down (while closed) from my cat knocking it down. My teen boys and I haven't found many games it won't play well, and those are the ones you'd expect from just about any laptop not specifically designed for gamers, for less than $2k. I'd totally buy this, if I was looking for one.

The AC adapter should at least have these specs: 75W (19V 3.95A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input. Look at your charger and see if it has the same specs. It could also be that your charger is defective.

colbytitus

floridamatt wrote:A great deal of the Windows 8 pain can be alleviated by installing one of the 3rd party start menu programs. Of the ones I looked at some time ago, ClassicStart and StartIsBack both allow you to easily operate entirely like win7, with all the metro c**p banished.

One of those will be the one of the first things I install.

You shouldn't have to install 3rd party apps - Microsoft should offer the user the option to change the UI but they apparently are hoping people will get used to this awful and cumbersome UI.
The problem with using the 3rd party stuff is it is going to have to keep pace with any updates Microsoft makes down the road.

gak0090

+ Large 17 inch screen with 1080p resolution - where are all the 1366x768 resolution haters? They should be cheering!

Bluemaple you should know that on a 17.3" screen the old the default resolution is 1600x900, which is basically the same pixel density as 1366x768 on a 15.6 inch screen;). But you are absolutely correct, this is a great laptop for the price especially since it comes with 1920x1080 and has a screaming I7 to boot. I would probably slap an SSD into this and a blue-ray burner to complete it, but at this price I'm not upset that it doesn't currently have it.

tc1uscg

This might make a good replacement for the wife's two older HP's she has at her desk. Been looking for a reason to dump those two dino's. One can only use 3gb of ram (one of the buss slots is bad). The other, same but it's functional. I might be in for one but I really don't like Toshiba. Have had nothing but bad luck the 2 I've had in the past. Too bad it doesn't have a 9cell battery.

trueskew

I've been looking for less than these specs for weeks now, and at this price it's a great deal. I feel lousy that I have to pass on it because of the touchpad, but I use it a lot, it's had bad reviews. I just read that it doesn't have dedicated buttons, but instead has button areas on the touchpad, and that makes the reviews more believable.

rhyno

christopherlisting wrote:Yeah. Am I missing something here? The specs are not only current but would be considered to be very top tier of the mid-level models. I dont understand how its so cheap. Can someone please offer an idea or maybe theres something that was really wrong with them, like they are severely refurbished ?

I bought one from the last Groupon deal... "severely refurbished" would be putting it mildly. Scratched, dinged, dented. HDD SMART info showed over 3,500 lifetime hours. Sent it back the same day.

Great deal if it weren't beat to hell, though: lots of USB, open drive bay for your SSD, four memory slots, high-res display. I'm debating if it's worth taking another bite at the Apple through this Woot deal.

bluemaple

gak0090 wrote:Bluemaple you should know that on a 17.3" screen the old the default resolution is 1600x900, which is basically the same pixel density as 1366x768 on a 15.6 inch screen;). But you are absolutely correct, this is a great laptop for the price especially since it comes with 1920x1080 and has a screaming I7 to boot. I would probably slap an SSD into this and a blue-ray burner to complete it, but at this price I'm not upset that it doesn't currently have it.

@gak0090, I was making a point without listing a the variants by screen size - I think the point was clear.

sdc100

trueskew wrote:I've been looking for less than these specs for weeks now, and at this price it's a great deal. I feel lousy that I have to pass on it because of the touchpad, but I use it a lot, it's had bad reviews. I just read that it doesn't have dedicated buttons, but instead has button areas on the touchpad, and that makes the reviews more believable.

Yeah, the one piece trackpad is the trend these days. I just bought an Acer and an Asus, and both have these horrific oversized trackpads and non-existent buttons. It's just one smooth rectangle with lower corners than can be pressed. The lack of buttons is meant to increase the tracking area, which I guess helps with gestures. The need to stretch my fingers abnormally however has led to lots of mistakes.

bluemaple

rhyno wrote:I bought one from the last Groupon deal... "severely refurbished" would be putting it mildly. Scratched, dinged, dented. HDD SMART info showed over 3,500 lifetime hours. Sent it back the same day.

Great deal if it weren't beat to hell, though: lots of USB, open drive bay for your SSD, four memory slots, high-res display. I'm debating if it's worth taking another bite at the Apple through this Woot deal.

@rhyno, ummm, this is Woot, not Groupon.

The most recent Groupon 17 inch Toshiba was a generic refurb, not a Toshiba recertified laptop.

Today's woot is Toshiba recertified.

I avoid generic refurbs no matter how many folks claim they are happy with theirs. No way to assure consistency.

rhyno

The most recent Groupon 17 inch Toshiba was a generic refurb, not a Toshiba recertified laptop.

Today's woot is Toshiba recertified.

I avoid generic refurbs no matter how many folks claim they are happy with theirs. No way to assure consistency.

Thank you, I'm well aware of which site I am on, and the difference between Woot and Groupon. I also--just maybe--might be a little better qualified to talk about what I had in my hands than you. Thanks for talking down to me though!

No, it was exactly this model, with the same 90 day manufacturer's recertified warranty.

mowtay

queenangelfish

I see this has 10/100 vs. 10/100/1000 that I see on most specs. What is the difference between these 2 specs, and what difference does this make in practical usage? Is this a slower connection? Is this a deal breaker? If so, why?

rhyno

sdc100 wrote:This laptop has great specs but it does have one glaring and inexplicable omission: Bluetooth. You'll need a dongle for that. On the other hand, it does have VGA, which is very rare for a laptop that has HDMI.

It's also worth noting that the wireless card is easily accessible if one wanted to replace it with a bluetooth-capable card, rather than use a dongle. It's accessed via the same cover you remove to access the empty RAM slots and both HDD bays, no having to disassemble the case or remove the keyboard to get to it.

trueskew

sdc100 wrote:Yeah, the one piece trackpad is the trend these days. I just bought an Acer and an Asus, and both have these horrific oversized trackpads and non-existent buttons. It's just one smooth rectangle with lower corners than can be pressed. The lack of buttons is meant to increase the tracking area, which I guess helps with gestures. The need to stretch my fingers abnormally however has led to lots of mistakes.

Exactly... I use it too frequently to have to put up with those mistakes. Work buys Dells, which I'm not crazy about, but they still have the buttons.

sdc100

rhyno wrote:It's also worth noting that the wireless card is easily accessible if one wanted to replace it with a bluetooth-capable card, rather than use a dongle. It's accessed via the same cover you remove to access the empty RAM slots and both HDD bays, no having to disassemble the case or remove the keyboard to get to it.

Thanks, on a whim, I just bought this very laptop on ebay for $439 a few minutes ago. The photo shows the original box as well as protective plastic still on the screen and logo but the seller says that they couldn't test if it has problems. So yeah, I'm taking a gamble but it's a pretty good one if it works. I'll probably get a Square Trade warranty just to be safe. And the reason I bought it is because of your post saying that Bluetooth can be added, and another post saying that there's a bay for an SSD. When I was about to pull the trigger, Woot had sold out. So I went to ebay, and lo and behold, an auction for the same model was about to end in 3 mins! And the price was still $350. Anyway, I won and will install Bluetooth as you suggested.

ps - ugh, I just realized that I bought 3 laptops this month: 2 x i7 and 1x i5. Time to resell on ebay...

arthuraardvark

So I bought one of these laptops this morning and looked up the Woot facebook page. It's nothing but people giving horror stories about dealing with Woot! I'm suddenly terrified...someone talk me down off the ledge. I'll get my laptop right?

bluemaple

queenangelfish wrote:I see this has 10/100 vs. 10/100/1000 that I see on most specs. What is the difference between these 2 specs, and what difference does this make in practical usage? Is this a slower connection? Is this a deal breaker? If so, why?

@mowtay & @queenangelfish, not that it matters on this woot anymore since it is now sold out, but...

No, for most people a 10/100 Mbit LAN connection is perfectly fine - no need for 1,000 Mbit (1 Gbit) speed.

And this wired LAN/Ethernet speed rating has nothing to do with the wireless wifi way most folks connect anyway.

Rationale:
- Unless you have a faster than 100 Mbit Internet connection (extremely rare in home environments outside of Google's test markets) 1,000 Mbit does nothing for your Internet throughput. I suppose some folks in universities might be able to take advantage, but you're still counting on the server at the other end being that fast.

- Unless both ends (the PC on the other end and or your router/switch) and the cabling in between have 1,000 Mbit ratings, you get throttled back to 100 Mbit anyway.

- The one likely scenario where you might find it handy is if you do a lot of BIG file transfers WITHIN your fully 1,000 Mbit rated network.

All that being said, it is kind of surprising 1,000 Mbit was left out on this i7 laptop. Ironic in that they did choose to include their (Toshiba's) not so popular WiDi TV connection.

ninjabb4

arthuraardvark wrote:So I bought one of these laptops this morning and looked up the Woot facebook page. It's nothing but people giving horror stories about dealing with Woot! I'm suddenly terrified...someone talk me down off the ledge. I'll get my laptop right?

bluemaple

arthuraardvark wrote:So I bought one of these laptops this morning and looked up the Woot facebook page. It's nothing but people giving horror stories about dealing with Woot! I'm suddenly terrified...someone talk me down off the ledge. I'll get my laptop right?

@arthuraardvark, doesn't get you anywhere to stress about it now. Remember the folks with problems speak out loudly - folks who are simply content are quiet.

Also, we have no way of knowing the full story of the folks who complain - only hearing one side. Doesn't mean their complaints are not valid, just potentially exceptions.

christopherlisting

Well, I pulled the trigger. This is the best deal Ive seen on any i7 laptop: 3rd gen i7 quad core, 17.5" hd screen w/hdmi out, 8gb ddr, etc...Amazing amazing laptop and a steal for this price, you cant do any better IMHO, and i doubt well see a deal this good again, even on black friday!

Im so pleased because the laptop im using right now, as in the one im typing here with lol, is very old (4 years old) and its on its way out. I wanted an i7 quad core with 8gb of ram so bad because I am a musician and need it for audio programs, so this is even more than I need.

My laptop runs out of memory and buffer underruns, and this never will. I do absolutely HATE and LOATH windows 8, but I will handle it. I cant find the link but there is a way to use windows 7 on windows 8.

anyway its sold out and im glad i caught one. I talked to another member who bought the groupon one and he said it arrived without a scratch or dent so i hope i get one of those

jzmacdaddy

fateforgotten wrote:I bought a similar model new from BestBuy just yesterday. The model I have is P75-A7200. Not exactly the same but from what I can tell it's the same shell.

I like it quite a lot. Still getting used to Windows 8....anyone with a good guide for apps - or useful tips/shortcuts etc for someone who does know stuff about computers - would be greatly appreciated.

My computer has a fourth gen processor but its hd, 17.3' etc, etc, blah blah blah seems to be the same.

I've never bought a computer from Woot, but had I waited another day or two and saw this, I probably would've bought this and saved a couple hundred bucks.

My computer only has a 4 cell battery, this one a 6 cell, so I imagine the battery would last a little longer...this one leaves a bit to be desired. Mine can only go about 2.5 - 3 hrs while watching netflix...about 4 doing just word processing / browsing. It does charge very quickly, though.

I too have that same one from Best Buy. It uses the 4th generation i7 processor (Haswell). The main differences between the P75-A7200 and the one here on Woot are that the 4th gen i7's have double the CPU cache(s), and SIGNIFICANTLY improved on-board video. Also, when closed, the two laptops look the same, but when open the power button and trackpad are different.
I too was a little mad when I saw this one for $100 than I got mine for, but I think the faster CPU and graphics makes up for it.

bluemaple

jzmacdaddy wrote:I too have that same one from Best Buy. It uses the 4th generation i7 processor (Haswell). The main differences between the P75-A7200 and the one here on Woot are that the 4th gen i7's have double the CPU cache(s), and SIGNIFICANTLY improved on-board video. Also, when closed, the two laptops look the same, but when open the power button and trackpad are different.
I too was a little mad when I saw this one for $100 than I got mine for, but I think the faster CPU and graphics makes up for it.

@jzmacdaddy, I wouldn't cry too much. As you realize, this woot was a really nice deal. So paying $100 more for a new, 4th gen i7 version seems like a no-brainer, also good deal. Toshiba's are good stuff.

sdc100

For those who are crying over missing out on the Toshiba laptop, there is still hope. Search eBay. There are similar deals on that laptop as well as similar ones. Some are from reputable dealers while others are from individuals. Some have refunds while others don't. As long as you're a saavy buyer, you'll do fine. Note that eBay and Paypal offer excellent protection as well as many credit cards. In fact, I bought 2 laptops off ebay this month (an i5 with SSD for $334 and an i7 for $465, both including s/h) and have been very pleased. Nearly new looking with no problems. And that's why I just bought another when I missed out on Woot's deal. The same exact model for $439.14 + $12 s/h, no tax -- Woot charges sales tax, making it around $550, or $100 more. I describe the auction and how new the laptop looks in a previous post. Am debating whether I should get Square Trade.

BTW, haters of Win 8 will be happy to know that I saw a few i7 laptops with Win 7 -- most under $400.

cdma2k

1. It was boxed in a Toshiba Refurb . manufactures box.
2. laptop was wrapped in plastic and was held by two styrofoam end caps.
3. no dents or scratches
4. I would rate it 9.9, like new, looks beautiful
5. diskinfo: 23 power cycles and 15hrs

xboxcrazy33

1. It was boxed in a Toshiba Refurb . manufactures box.
2. laptop was wrapped in plastic and was held by two styrofoam end caps.
3. no dents or scratches
4. I would rate it 9.9, like new, looks beautiful
5. diskinfo: 23 power cycles and 15hrs

ducluc

xboxcrazy33 wrote:Any chance either of you could upload some pics showing conditions? Also, if you feel comfortable sharing, where do you guys live? Just trying to figure out when I should expect mine.

I live in Indianapolis. The laptop was shipped from Louisville Ky ( 90 minutes away)at 3am Tue 9/17 and I received at 2pm.

Can't show you any pictures at this time but trust me it is in pristine condition and I'm lovin' it!!!!!!! Hope you do too.

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